Total synthesis of bromobenzene

An international team of scientists herein wish to report on a seminal EAS functionalization approach to unearth a mono-substituted benzene (1), tentatively named bromobenzene.

Scheme 1. Synthesis of bromobenzene

It is noteworthy that the depicted synthesis is strictly linear. According to preliminary results, the addition of a catalytic amount of Lewis acid is crucial in obtaining a decent yield. It is at this stage believed that the product may be further refined by the means of vacuum distillation.

9 Responses to Total synthesis of bromobenzene

You would be interested to know that a catalytic amount of Lewis acid can be replaced with a catalytic amount of pyridine. (Or with a catalytic amount of Fe powder). HPyr+ Br3- formed in situ is a good enough catalyst for the reaction. (Dtto FeBr3). Pyridine catalysis has the advantage of being mild enough to avoid polybromination of benzene, hence only small excess of benzene is needed